After tax fails, fire station shut, layoffs planned

Published: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 10:52 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 10:52 a.m.

One of Bayou Cane’s four fire stations was shut down Monday.

The fire chief’s decision to close the station at Savanne Road and Little Bayou Black Drive is the first of several steps intended to make up the money that will be lost when a federal grant expires in 2014.

Other planned cuts include laying off seven employees by Jan. 1, eliminating overtime and reducing the number of calls that its trucks respond to each year.

Bayou Cane officials had hoped to close the gap with a new property tax, but voters rejected that request Nov. 6.

Voters did renew the department’s 20-mill property tax but rejected an additional 10-mills. The department expects to bring in an estimated $3.8 million next year. The 10-mill tax would have raised another $1.9 million.

Closing the station will save about $100,000 a year, officials have said.

People in the area covered by the Savanne Road station can expect a delayed response now that trucks must travel further, Fire Battalion Chief Brian Boudreaux said.

The federal grant paid the salaries and benefits of 14 employees, Chief Ken Himel said at Monday night’s fire district board meeting.

Complicating the financial picture further, the board lacked the two-thirds vote needed to collect the $396,000 windfall it could have netted because of rising property values.

Tax collections don’t automatically increase when property values rise. Tax-collecting agencies must vote to keep tax rates the same and collect more money. Absent that vote, tax rates slip to the level needed to bring in the same amount of money as the previous year.

The vote was taken at an Aug. 20 meeting. The three board members present —Suzanne Carlos, Jeff Teuton and Joe Malbrough — voted in favor of keeping the tax rate the same and taking the windfall.

But the two other board members — Leslie Jones and Doc Writer — were absent from the meeting, meaning the board didn’t have the two-thirds majority needed to pass the measure and it was too late in the year to try for another vote.

Himel also said he plans to issue new guidelines today detailing the types of calls to which trucks will respond.

This shift in duties came about 12 years ago, when the department began responding to more calls for service, especially those that were medical-related, Hill said.

Effective today, the department will no longer respond to all medical calls, focusing instead on the more serious ones, including car crashes with confirmed injuries, shootings and stabbings. Firefighters will also no longer drive to those scenes with fully equipped fire trucks, opting instead for trucks without water or fire-fighting equipment.

Himel also proposed fining people for excessive false alarms. Some businesses along Martin Luther King Boulevard and in the Southland Mall, particularly, take up firefighters’ time, he said. He did not detail the threshold for excessive false alarms.

More residents and firefighters than usual were at Monday’s meeting, and several voiced disappointment that board members did not publicly lobby for the tax increase.

Public figures like former Terrebonne Councilman Ronnie Eschete and current Councilman Greg Hood came out against the tax increase, and some at Monday’s meeting said that counter-arguments from the board might have swayed voters.

Chairman Jeff Teuton, who told board members they were “making a mistake” when they voted to put the tax increase on the ballot, said he was out of town in the weeks leading up to the election and chose to stay out of the public eye.

“Like you said, a lot of misinformation out there, but, you know, the public has spoken,” Teuton said.

Teuton said, as he has before, that the best way to fix the problem of requiring a small population of residents to pay for a fire department in an area highly frequented by workers and shoppers is to limit the kind of calls it responds to, as Himel proposed Monday.

Staff Writer Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at 448-7617 or katie.urbaszewski@dailycomet.com.

<p>One of Bayou Cane's four fire stations was shut down Monday.</p><p>The fire chief's decision to close the station at Savanne Road and Little Bayou Black Drive is the first of several steps intended to make up the money that will be lost when a federal grant expires in 2014.</p><p>Other planned cuts include laying off seven employees by Jan. 1, eliminating overtime and reducing the number of calls that its trucks respond to each year.</p><p>Bayou Cane officials had hoped to close the gap with a new property tax, but voters rejected that request Nov. 6.</p><p>Voters did renew the department's 20-mill property tax but rejected an additional 10-mills. The department expects to bring in an estimated $3.8 million next year. The 10-mill tax would have raised another $1.9 million.</p><p>Closing the station will save about $100,000 a year, officials have said.</p><p>People in the area covered by the Savanne Road station can expect a delayed response now that trucks must travel further, Fire Battalion Chief Brian Boudreaux said.</p><p>The federal grant paid the salaries and benefits of 14 employees, Chief Ken Himel said at Monday night's fire district board meeting. </p><p>Complicating the financial picture further, the board lacked the two-thirds vote needed to collect the $396,000 windfall it could have netted because of rising property values.</p><p>Tax collections don't automatically increase when property values rise. Tax-collecting agencies must vote to keep tax rates the same and collect more money. Absent that vote, tax rates slip to the level needed to bring in the same amount of money as the previous year.</p><p>The vote was taken at an Aug. 20 meeting. The three board members present —Suzanne Carlos, Jeff Teuton and Joe Malbrough — voted in favor of keeping the tax rate the same and taking the windfall. </p><p>But the two other board members — Leslie Jones and Doc Writer — were absent from the meeting, meaning the board didn't have the two-thirds majority needed to pass the measure and it was too late in the year to try for another vote.</p><p>Himel also said he plans to issue new guidelines today detailing the types of calls to which trucks will respond.</p><p>Bayou Cane responds annually to an average of 1,250 medical emergencies, 500 rescues, 300 hazardous-condition incidents, 230 fire alarms, 200 calls for service, and 140 fires, according to department-supplied statistics.</p><p>This shift in duties came about 12 years ago, when the department began responding to more calls for service, especially those that were medical-related, Hill said.</p><p>Effective today, the department will no longer respond to all medical calls, focusing instead on the more serious ones, including car crashes with confirmed injuries, shootings and stabbings. Firefighters will also no longer drive to those scenes with fully equipped fire trucks, opting instead for trucks without water or fire-fighting equipment.</p><p>Himel also proposed fining people for excessive false alarms. Some businesses along Martin Luther King Boulevard and in the Southland Mall, particularly, take up firefighters' time, he said. He did not detail the threshold for excessive false alarms.</p><p>More residents and firefighters than usual were at Monday's meeting, and several voiced disappointment that board members did not publicly lobby for the tax increase.</p><p> Public figures like former Terrebonne Councilman Ronnie Eschete and current Councilman Greg Hood came out against the tax increase, and some at Monday's meeting said that counter-arguments from the board might have swayed voters.</p><p>Chairman Jeff Teuton, who told board members they were “making a mistake” when they voted to put the tax increase on the ballot, said he was out of town in the weeks leading up to the election and chose to stay out of the public eye.</p><p>“Like you said, a lot of misinformation out there, but, you know, the public has spoken,” Teuton said.</p><p>Teuton said, as he has before, that the best way to fix the problem of requiring a small population of residents to pay for a fire department in an area highly frequented by workers and shoppers is to limit the kind of calls it responds to, as Himel proposed Monday.</p><p>Staff Writer Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at 448-7617 or katie.urbaszewski@dailycomet.com.</p>